Snow Sakura
by Compulsive Writer
Summary: Do you know about the Snow Sakura? Once a year, its flowers bloom in the chill of winter.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_Do you know about the Snow Sakura?_ Her disembodied voice is a gentle whisper, yet a playful song at the same time. A sense of déjà vu washes over me. A fleeting memory of the distant past, just beyond the bounds of clarity, teases the back of my mind and is gone before I can grasp for it. Who does this strange and distant voice belong to? More importantly, why do I answer?

"Snow Sakura?" I ask. It is not my voice though. At least, not anymore. In my dreams, I possess the voice of a child.

The stranger responds, in itself almost an incarnation of the memory that continues to harass my conscious thoughts. _Once a year, it's flowers bloom in the chill of winter._

Though I am aware of the legend of the Snow Sakura, the voice that is not mine yet still belongs to me answers with astonishment and skepticism, though I know every word she speaks is indeed true.

"Even though it's a cherry tree?" I ask.

_Yes, even though it's a cherry tree._

The skepticism wins over. "Cherry trees only bloom in the spring, you know."

She is patient with me, a teacher calmly lecturing her pupil. _Normal cherry trees, yes. But this one blooms in the winter, so it's called the Snow Sakura._

"That sounds like the name of some cheap liquor."

_No way! You lack romanticism._

"But there's no way such a cherry tree could exist."

Any patience she may have had a moment ago has evaporated. _It does so exist! I saw it with my own eyes!_

"Really?"

_I'll show you! Over here! _The voice is growing even more distant. A darkness passes over me, and for the briefest of moments, I see her. Not her face, but something… the girl before me, no older than six years, standing still and patient, a smile on her face. She drifts away as she speaks, and her voice follows.

"Hey wait! I don't even know your name yet…"

_Oh, that's right. _Still, she is drifting away. The image of her fades.

"Tell me your name!" I cry.

_Okay. My name is…_

_My name is…_


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

My first memory that day was the shrill sound of my alarm clock buzzing loudly in my ear. Any thought that might have come to me as I lay there, glum and exhausted, was blasted away in an instant. With a groan, I reached out and slammed my fist onto the snooze button.

It was a tiny victory. I thought momentarily about the strange dream that had only just been interrupted, but the memories of my dreams had always been hazy at best. Usually I didn't even remember them. This one, though still fresh in my mind, was fading fast.

As I stared moodily up at nothing in particular, it dawned on me: I didn't at all recognize the ceiling. For a moment I thought I was still dreaming. I looked out the window to make sure.

There was snow for as far as the eye could see. It drifted lightly from above.

I sighed. "It wasn't a dream." My shoulders slumped dejectedly. Just a few days ago, I was in Tokyo. The warm air caressing me, the tall rows of buildings devouring all. Now, however…

Hokkaido. I wondered again just how all of this had come to pass. God must hate me, I decided. I shivered involuntarily. Unfortunately, I would be shivering for quite some time to come. That is what one did when he, against his will, was shipped out to Hokkaido, a land of seemingly eternal winter. At least, so they say.

"I just don't get it…" I grumbled to myself.

Determined to stay warm, I buried myself under my blanket in hopes that it really would turn out to be a dream. I knew how utterly ridiculous such a dream would be, but then again, I was already stuck in an utterly ridiculous situation.

At least my blanket was warm. That was something, wasn't it?

"What are you mumbling about? Come on, get up!"

In the instant following the unexpected voice belting its orders down on me, I felt the blanket being yanked away from my body. Icy threads of an inverted Hell belted down on me from above. I'm pretty sure my cry of shock shook the dead from their eternal slumber.

It was so incredibly cold!

"_Saki!_" I growled, infuriated.

She was smiling. The queen of the ice demons smirked down on me from her perch, a sparkle of pleasure in those crystalline blue eyes. "Don't whine like that! You sound pathetic!"

I growled up at her. At least, I would have, had I not been so busy shivering. Saki was around my age, and I guess she would be considered my cousin. Her body was a slim and her light hair soft, silky. She may look cute, but I wasn't fooled. The girl had a devil on each shoulder, and they were likely as frozen and miserable as I was.

"Come on, get up and eat your breakfast," she said. She was too perky. How could anyone be so damn perky in Hokkaido? It was a real mystery. "Yuuji…"

"No way! I'm cold!"

Now she was annoyed. "That's no excuse!"

Like Hell it wasn't. "I don't want breakfast!" I declared, as if declaring such a thing was even necessary, which in my own humble opinion, it wasn't. Of course, Saki would disagree, but I didn't care. "I just want to sleep straight through to Saturday morning."

"Quit being such a lazy bum!"

Quick as lightning, my cousin pounded me right on top of my head. "Ow!" Now _that_ wasn't the tiniest bit necessary, and she knew it. Before I could tell her, though, she was spouting off her reasoning behind the perceived flaw in my reasoning.

"When you're in this house you follow our rules!"

"What rules?" I demanded.

"You must always eat your breakfast. If you don't eat your breakfast, you'll freeze to death!"

I figured I was already freezing to death, and getting out of bed would only hasten the process. I wrinkled my nose. "You're lying."

She smirked. "I'm lying."

Of course. "Why you…"

"Did you believe me, just a little bit?"

"No way!"

Saki cocked an eyebrow as she gazed down at me. "This is why I hate smartasses who grew up in the city."

I snorted, wondering if I would somehow be able to survive this wintery hell. Admittedly, I had my doubts. Saki didn't help any; to me she seemed to play the part of a man-eating shark circling in bloody chunk of raw meat—namely, me—as the Crocodile Hunter stared into the whites of her eyes. "Look at 'er eyes," he'd say, right before she bit my head off.

She's a feisty one, mate.

I wonder why all this had to happen. I'd already come to the conclusion that it wasn't all a dream. It sure seemed like a dream, but I knew better. I was only fooling myself if I continued to search for an explanation I desired, when the truth was that I was stuck here in Hokkaido, abandoned really. I stared up at the ceiling. I really don't recognize this ceiling at all.

Just one short week ago, I returned home from school, I was in for a shock. The furniture was gone. The house had been empty save for the note taped to the screen door for me to find. In addition, my mother and father were nowhere to be seen.

Naturally, in my infinite wisdom, I read the note:

"To my stupid son. I know this is sudden, but my business has transferred me overseas. I'm going to Hawaii. We'll be here for a full year. You mother is very happy. We were going to bring you with us, but you've been kind of a wiseass lately, so we decided to leave you behind. I've left everything else up to my brother in Hokkaido. Your school transfer has already been taken care of. Pack your bags and go to Hokkaido. P.S. Be strong!"

So in other words, I'd been abandoned. That had been Saki's observation, much to my dismay, on the day she'd picked me up at the train station, my first day back in Hokkaido in ages. Okay, to be fair, that's not _really_ what my dad wrote to me, but he still twisted the knife good and hard after ramming it into my heart and leaving me in this Godforsaken wasteland.

"Ugh…"

"Could you look any more depressed?" Saki asked. There seemed to be a hint of understanding in her eyes as she gazed down at me. She smiled and her voice was gentle. It seemed my father wasn't the only fiend good at twisting the knife buried in my flesh. "Poor Yuuji. You probably had friends back at your old school."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't care about that."

"Oh, what's this?" She was genuinely surprised, though I wasn't exactly sure why. "You don't see to be taking it very hard."

"I went to an all boys' school," I explained with a shrug of my shoulders. In all reality, I'm glad to get away from there. Life becomes pretty mundane when you live with a bunch of testosterone-driven windbags. Still… anywhere would have been better than Hokkaido. "I had a few friends, but nobody really stood out."

"Well anyway, I guess there's nothing that can be done about that now, anyway," Saki replied cooly as she grinned. "Dad is strangely happy about the whole thing too."

My father's older brother. In other words, my uncle. He had agreed to take care of me in my parent's absence, while they were soaking up the sun in beautiful Hawaii, far from the blustery chill of Hokkaido. My uncle owned an inn in the small rural town of Yukito, a suburb of Hokkaido. Or rather, he did run an inn.

"Speak of the devil!" Saki said cheerfully as the big man poked his head into the room.

"Yuuji! Are you awake?"

I could have sworn I heard some ribs break when he hugged me. I still don't understand the man at all. I mean… I do care for him. He's my uncle, but… I'm just not the kind of guy who makes a habit of hugging other guys. I haven't even hugged my father since I was little.

"I leave you alone overnight and you've gotten so big already! Why, you!"

"Uncle," I gasped as he attempted to squeeze the life from me. "I can't breathe…"

"When was the last time we met? Ten hours ago? Eight?"

"Uncle, you're crushing me…"

"Yes, yes, I'm happy to see you, too."

Utterly ridiculous. It's my only explanation for the man's behavior. "I'm not happy! I'm suffocating!"

Saki, of course, did not help matters. "See?" she told me as she gazed at the two of us."He's overjoyed!" Great, I thought. She was sitting there, lost in the moment, and I was being crushed into chum for my uncle's next fishing trip.

"Somebody stop him!" I squealed.

Saki chuckled. "Dad, Yuuji just woke up."

"Oh, I see! Time for breakfast then!"

I won't go into details, because no fool should have to go through the embarrassment of being physically dragged from his cozy bed to the dining room by his lug of an uncle and be forced to explain it to the masses, so you'll just have to bear with me. It was an awful event, rest assured.

I still wonder, though. What kind of beastly strength does that man have?

* * *

We sat down for breakfast a few minutes later, just the three of us. Saki, Uncle Takeaki, and me. My aunt passed away about ten years ago, leaving behind two broken hearts and countless scattered dreams. I can't really imagine what it must have been like for the two of them, but I think that maybe they feel their lives are a little less empty since I'd moved in. Now there were three in their small family, after all.

Of course, it wouldn't be all that surprising if I were way off course. How does the old song go? You're so vain… Yeah, I suppose that's quite possible.

Regardless, since I moved in, the place wasn't quite so lonely for Saki and Uncle anymore. Saki handled most of the daily chores, including the cooking, and I have to admit, she's not a half bad cook. It's like my father always says though: in this life, you gotta be good at something. The truth is the truth, and Saki's truth is in the kitchen, so to speak.

Midway through our meal, the phone rang. When Saki jumped up and hustled out of the room to answer it, Uncle leaned forward. "So, what do you think?"

"Huh? About what?" I asked through a mouthful of broiled fish.

"About Saki," he said, leaning forward conspiratorially. "Don't you think she's grown? You know, like an hourglass figure?"

I stopped chewing. When he continued, it was quite obvious that he misunderstood the dark stare I gave him.

"Hmm. Well… maybe not quite an hourglass. I don't know who she takes after, but her breasts haven't grown an inch!" I very nearly chocked on my fish. What the hell was he talking about? More importantly… this was my _cousin_ he was talking about here! And _his _daughter…

A fist thudded against the back of his head, and he let out a grunt.

Speak of the devil, I thought with a smirk.

"Don't be so rude," Saki grumbled as she plopped down on the floor. "Anyway, the phone's for you."

As Uncle left the room, rubbing his head, Saki rolled her eyes at me. I could only shrug in reply as I sipped my spiced tea.

"Yuuji, when he does stuff like that, you should put him in some wrestling holds."

I grunted. "As if."

"Oh, come on…"

I couldn't help but think as I looked at her across the table that maybe Uncle was right. She had grown up a bit since I'd last seen her.

"What?" she asked when she caught me staring.

"Oh… nothing. Let's eat!"

She eyed me suspiciously before returning to her meal.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

"It's cold!" I complained to no one in particular. It was pretty much a meaningless complaint, like bitching that water is wet and the sun is bright. And, if truth be told, I could have complained about _that_ too, because the sunshine against the white blanket that stretched from horizon to horizon nearly blinded me as I stepped into the chill of yet another abysmal day in Yukito.

Of course, Saki couldn't just let me bitch. "What are you talking about? It's cold because we're in Hokkaido. Quit complaining!"

I didn't care if we lived in Hokkaido or not. It was still too damn cold, so cold that you could use a banana to hammer nails.

"Well, let's get going. We don't wanna let the whole day waste away."

We were on our way to Sakuragaoka Academy, which was more than twenty kilometers away. The call Uncle Takeaki had received earlier had been from the school office, who needed some final paperwork filled out so that I could finalize transfer. I wasn't looking forward to the long walk to the train station, and then the twenty kilometers between the station and Sakuragaoka, but I tried not to complain as I followed Saki down the snowy path. Really I did.

At least, not out loud.

* * *

It took an hour to get to Sakuragaoka Academy by train. The boxcar appeared to be really old and shabby. Saki said that it had a certain, venerable appeal, which is another way of saying that it was really freaking old. The engine ran on diesel and the floor was made of finely polished wood. I'll admit that it was indeed well-kept, and it looked nice. I felt as if I'd actually stepped through a portal and into the past. The old gas heater inside the car looked unsafe but inviting at the same time, so I sat next to it during the entire trip, Saki by my side. Because it was a Sunday, there was no school, meaning we had the entire car to ourselves.

The walk to the school was much shorter than the one to the train station from the old Tajibana inn. My first impression, aside from the fact that the campus was blanketed in snow like everything else in Hokkaido, was that the buildings were decent enough. A tall wall surrounded much of the campus, connected here and there by chain-link fence. The three story building was off-white and the glass in each window frame a deep, dark blue and impossible to see through from the outside. The construction was rather old-fashioned, I though, much like the train, but it had flavor.

Most importantly, it was warm inside. As Saki and I walked through the empty halls, I realized that the windows each had two layers of glass. It caught me off guard, and when I pointed it out to Saki, she seemed surprised. "You just noticed that?"

"Yeah, just now."

She shrugged. "Most windows in Hokkaido are made like that."

Curious for a reason I couldn't possibly fathom, I decided to ask. "Why? Because it's cold?"

"Hmm…" Saki considered my reasoning for a moment and gave a shrug. "Well, I guess that's one reason. But it's actually because sometimes icicles fall down and break them." Icicles. I'd heard they could be dangerous, but I never had seen one large enough that it could do such damage, or even kill a person. I shuddered, and this time, not because of the cold. "Come on, let's go," Saki said cheerfully.

"Yeah…" I stared at my most recent discovery for a moment before following her down the hall. Hokkaido was a strange world indeed.

The faculty office was about average size I guess, each table mounted with a keyboard and monitor. It was so clean you could almost eat off the floor without any fear of getting sick. Twenty desks in all. I wondered if there were actually twenty teachers employed by Sakuragaoka Academy.

As I looked around I noticed suddenly the smell of burning kerosene. Of course, in Hokkaido, that was probably a relatively common scent.

"Teacher, he's here," Saki announced.

Silence answered her. At first we didn't notice the lone occupant of the room, sitting at one of the desks by the windows. Her head was on the desktop, her honey-brown hair spilling down around her face as she peacefully snoozed away.

"Teacher!" Saki called out. "Miss Misato!"

"Y-yes!" Her head shot up as if it had been launched from a catapult, her hair flying in every which direction. I thought she was kinda cute. "I'm awake! I'm not sleeping!"

I smiled. No, that wasn't the least bit suspicious.

"He's here," Saki announced.

Misato rose from her chair and gazed over to us. Then her face lit up with a bright and cheerful smile. "Oh, yes! I see, I see. Oh my…"

As she started over to join us, she dropped like a sack of potatoes. The crash was epic as her chair skidded away out from under her and slammed into the wall. Her face brightened again, only now she was beet red. "Owwwww…" she moaned.

Saki looked down in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," she replied. Yeah, she was cute all right, but I got the distinct impression that she was a total klutz. "Owww…"

As she rose to her feet she straightened her blue skirt and the pretty purple blouse she wore. "I'm sorry for calling you all the way out here on a Sunday." Her smile, I decided, was golden. The radiance of it caught me off guard. She had a very kind smile. I decided that she was more than just pretty. She really was quite beautiful.

"This is my home room teacher," Saki said, introducing us. "Miss Misato."

"A pleasure to meet you, Tajibana-kun."

"Hi," I said flatly. What is that they say about first impressions?

"Here's the paperwork you wanted from Dad," Saki said.

Miss Misato glanced at the papers for a moment and smiled. "Yes, this is it."

"Teacher, you've got some drool on your chin."

"Huh?" She blushed. "Oh my!" She snatched a Kleenex off of one of the nearby desks. She laughed, a warm, lilting sound, as she returned to us, she was carrying a small bundle. "I must look like quite a mess." She handed me the bundle. "Here is your uniform, Tajibana-kun. Please wear it starting tomorrow."

My hand brushed against hers as I accepted my uniform. I couldn't help but notice how soft it was. "Uh… Thank you very much." I glanced away, almost positive that I was blushing.

"Why are you blushing?"

Damn that Saki.

"Shut up!" I had gone to an all boys' school in Tokyo, so this whole experience was new to me. I decided not to point that out to her though.

"Tajibana-kun, please hold still for a moment…"

Without warning, Miss Misato moved toward me and began to run her hands all over my body. If I wasn't red before, I knew I must look like Hellboy now. "W-what are you doing?"

"While you're here, I'm going to take your measurements for your gym clothes."

Is that how they do it in Hokkaido? Impressive…

I saw Saki smirking as Miss Misato continued to grope me, no doubt completely oblivious to any potential misconceptions to what her action might lead to. I glared at my cousin.

"Let's see. Your inseam is…" Her hand just barely touched my crotch. I let out a yelp of surprise, which caused Miss Misato to yelp as well. By the look on her face, I knew she had absolutely no idea what she had just done. I wanted to be _anywhere_ else. Why couldn't I have just stayed in bed?

"You're not supposed to move," Saki said, looking at me with a deadpan expression. I could tell she was a moment away from bursting out laughing. I was going to have to kill her later. I took a mental note.

"B-but…"

"Now hold still, please," Miss Misato said cheerfully, and went back to work. It was kind of ticklish.

"You aren't thinking anything dirty, are you?" Saki asked.

"I'm not!" A lie. I suspected she knew that.

"Okay!" Miss Misato said suddenly, rising back to her feet. "All done! Your gym clothes should be here in a couple days."

"Um, thanks."

"No problem." Her smile was golden, so innocent and childlike. I could have melted then and there.

"We should head back to the station."

"Um, why?" I asked.

"It's almost time for the next train. If we miss it, we'll be stuck here until nighttime."

Ugh! "Why didn't you say so sooner!"

* * *

We said our goodbyes and left the faculty office. It was hard to believe that that lady was going to be my home room teacher. Then again, I suspected that I had been placed there strategically because it was Saki's class. She could help show me the ropes. The first thing she had to show me, of course, was the short yet exhausting run to back to the train station.

I was breathless as I plopped into a seat next to the old oven in the back of the train.

"You're so pathetic," Saki muttered. "What kind of life have you lived before now?"

In Tokyo, there's always a cab nearby. Is that what she wanted me to say? I responded with a pathetic shrug.

The train was well underway, Saki seated next to me, when she asked, "Hey, what do you think?"

I glanced to her. "About what?"

"Our school."

"Oh." I sat there in silence for a long time. What was there to say? I couldn't say anything before I'd actually had my first class. "It's nice enough." I didn't want to admit that I appreciated the fact that she and I would be in the same class. The only real problem I could come up with at the moment was the fact that it was freaking twenty kilometers away, and you never could quite tell if and when the train would explode into a million little rotting splinters.

"Our school has lots of cute girls. With me at the head of the list, of course."

I smirked. Leaning back in my chair, I peered out into the blustery countryside. My smile faded. "It's snowing again. It's white for as far as the eye can see."

Saki gasped. "Wha! He's ignoring me!"

Without coming out and saying so much, yeah, I'd decided I'd finally had enough.

* * *

By the time we returned to the inn, the sun was already beginning to set. I hated Hokkaido's short days. The snow and cold wore me out, and it seemed I had to walk everywhere I went. I was exhausted and my feet hurt. The pain was proof of my past sedentary lifestyle.

I hated Hokkaido.

I supposed I was lucky there was a train that could actually take me to school. I didn't want to be one of those old farts who would tell his grandchildren about having to walk twenty miles to school everyday in a foot of snow, uphill both ways. I already had a father like that, and I didn't want to be like him at all.

"Hey, Yuuji!"

Uncle Takeaki stuck his head into my room.

"What?"

"Here's a package from Keijirou for you. It just came."

"From Dad?" I accepted the small package with a frown.

"What should we have for dinner tonight? Is there anything you want to eat?"

"Anything hot," I said in an instant.

Uncle smiled. "Curry it is."

As he started to leave the room, I stopped him. "Uncle?"

"Hmm?"

"Please take good care of me," I said with a bow.

He let out a belly laugh. "Don't worry about a thing!" he said cheerfully. To be completely honest, I was a little worried. Who wouldn't be? It was a new home for me, a new life. I wasn't at all prepared. He gave me an unexpected whack on the back that nearly knocked me from my feet. "Why don't you relax until dinner is ready? I'll call you."

The floor creaked under Uncle's weight as he walked away. My back still ached, but my heart was a little lighter, a little warmer than it had been before he had come into my room. He's an interesting person, I decided. It had been so long since I'd been here, I'd almost forgotten what he was like. I stared down at the package my father had sent me.

Within the next five minutes, I came to the conclusion I was better off with Uncle Takeaki.

Inside the package was a single video tape. There wasn't even a letter with it. I pulled it out, feeling uneasy as I moved over to the VCR. I didn't trust my father in the least, and I hadn't had any reason to for a long time. I turned on the TV as the tape began to play. A few seconds of static quickly gave way to a glorious view of a Hawaiian beach. My heart sunk.

"Ahhh, ahhh, testing, testing…" My father's voice. The uneasy feeling turned into queasiness in a single heartbeat. "Is this thing even recording?"

Get on with it, you old fart.

"Hey, Son!" my father said after fidgeting with the device a moment longer. "It's been awhile. I'm recording this from my new workplace."

Swell. Get on with it, I thought again. I felt dizzy.

"Just take a look at this beautiful Waikiki beach!"

My finger drew closer to the stop button.

"Hey! Knock it off!" I flinched. "Don't stop the tape." I stared, dumbfounded at the angry face on my television set.

"Okay, how in the _hell _did he do that?"

"Just shut up and watch until the end," he replied.

It's a recording, I reminded myself. "Dad, you're a moron."

"So, is everything going all right over there? You're old dad is always worried about how you're doing." He turned away from the camera and called out for a waitress. The man's English was horrid.

His drink arrived in short order, and I decided as I watched him slurp it down that I was ready to disown him.

After several moments, he finally continued. "I imagine you're suffering through many hardships in your cold, dark, snowy craphole of a town right now." I knew he didn't really mean that, but it burned me to the core. He wasn't really insulting the town; he was simply reminding me of how I felt about Uncle and Saki's home. "But I know you'll live a wonderful life because of it."

If I don't freeze to death first.

"It was so hard for me to leave you behind and transfer here," he lied. "Please understand this." _Like hell I will!_ "No matter how much I fool around with big-breasted blond-haired beautiful girls here, I've always got you in the back of my mind."

Now _that_ was a little creepy.

"Anyway, some big beefy American bodybuilder picked up your mom awhile ago, and I don't know where she is right now."

My parents, I decided, are morons. I made a silent plea for someone to eradicate all traces of my fool parents from my DNA.

"I'm running out of tape, so I'll keep this short. My time here has been extended to three years." _What?_ "I won't return to Japan before then."

"Hey, wait! You said it was just going to be one year!"

"It's no use yelling at this video! Calm down, Son." He paused for a long moment, and an earnest smile touched his lips. "You'll have to live your own life from now on. Your mother and I will be watching you from here, in the land of eternal summer. We're looking forward to watching you struggle, but I know you can succeed."

My mind had gone blank. I had been looking forward to the day when I could return to Tokyo to finish my schooling. By the time my parents returned to Japan, though, I would be a college student. I was going to have to finish high school in this frozen hell.

My folks had ditched me and washed their hands of all responsibility for me.

My life was meaningless now. All of my expectations crumbled to dust. Through the mix of emotions bubbling up inside my chest, I realized that my life in this distant, exasperating snowy country had truly begun.


End file.
